FORMULA 3

Sprint Race

A maiden Formula 3 victory on home soil is what awaited Campos Racing’s Mari Boya on Saturday after a dramatic Sprint Race.

The top 3 remained the same off the line with pole-sitter Santiago Ramos (Trident) leading teammate Sami Meguetounif into the first corner, followed closely by Boya in third ahead of MP Motorsport’s Dunne.

The start of Lap 3 saw drama between the two Trident teammates, with the pair colliding at Turn 1, with Meguetounif being spun off the track whilst Ramos was able to carry on but was forced to pit with a puncture, effectively ending his race before it truely begun. Boya took the lead after the Trident pair’s mistake ahead of Dunne and Goethe, however the first Safety Car of the race was called on this lap as a result of another collision between Callum Voisin and Nikita Bedrin meaning both cars stopped on track at Turn 1.

Racing resumed on Lap 7 with Noel Leon of Van Amersfoort Racing overtaking Arvid Lindblad at Turn 5, placing him sixth after starting P13. Lindblad saw further struggles on the restart, with Leonardo Fornaroli and PREMA Racing teammate Dino Beganovic overtaking him, eventually dropping him to 9th place.

By Lap 14, a DRS train had been established with Boya leading the pack, all the way to Sebastian Montoya in P12 – with the Columbian having started the race in 27th.

Gabriele Mini soon ended both his own race and the race of Sebastian Montoya as a result of contact on the exit of Turn 4. The number 2 PREMA car suffered a puncture which caused him to lose control of his car, sending him into Montoya, and resulting in both cars ending up in the gravel trap and subsequently calling for the Safety Car for the second time this race.

However, with it being so late into the race and with few laps remaining, the Safety Car was withdrawn at the end of the final lap, which left Boya to cross the line unchallenged for his maiden win in Formula 3 infront of a home crowd, ahead of Alex Dunne, who became the first Irishman to score a podium in Formula 3 and its predecessor GP3.

Third place was secured by Oliver Goethe, who was closely followed by Stenshorne in P4, ahead of Van Hoepen and Leon. Fornaroli finished in 7th ahead of PREMA’s Dino Beganovic, with Arvid Lindblad crossing the line in ninth ahead of MP’s Tramnitz who claimed the final point in P10.

Penalties:

• Meguetounif – 5 place grid penalty (causing a collision with Ramos)
• Bedrin – 3 place grid penalty (causing a collision with Voisin)
• Campos Racing – €2500 fine (non-nominated front plank used)

Feature Race:

PREMA Racing’s Arvid Lindblad took victory on Sunday’s Feature Race, in the 100th race in FIA Formula 3 history, becoming the first double-winner of the 2024 season.

Pole-sitter Christian Mansell of ART Grand Prix got a strong launch off the line, ahead of Lindblad and fellow ART team-mate Nikola Tsolov. Oliver Goethe was the biggest loser on the opening lap, dropping from fifth to eighth, promoting Luke Browning and Leonardo Fornaroli up to fourth and fifth respectively. 

On Lap 5 saw the lead of the race under contention, with Mansell coming under pressure from Lindblad, with the PREMA Racing driver’s efforts rewarded as he completed the overtake around the outside of Mansell at Turn 1. A little further down the road, Browning also used the same corner to complete an overtake on the second ART Grand Prix driver Tsolov to take third place.

At the halfway stage of the race, Mansell was now over a second and a half behind the leader Lindblad, with Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Luke Browning being ordered by his team to make a move to pass Mansell for P2 in the race as soon as possible.

On Lap 17, Lindblad had an almost three second gap over the rest of the field. Meanwhile, Mansell had pulled clear of Browning enough to escape being in range for DRS. The Briton however, was now coming under pressure from Tsolov and Fornaroli as they vied for the remaining spot on the podium. Trident’s Fornaroli then made an overtake of Tsolov on Lap 22, going round the outside at Turn 1.

Browning and Fornaroli continued their wheel-to-wheel racing for P3 on the penultimate lap of the race, with Stenshorne and van Hoepen having a similar battle for P7. However, the McLaren junior and ART rookie both experienced punctures as a result of a collision at Turn 4.

On the final lap, Fornaroli managed to complete an overtake around the outside of Luke Browning at Turn 2 to take P3, just in time for heavy rain to hit the track. However, it was too little too late to prevent Lindblad from taking his second victory of the season in front of Mansell and Fornaroli, making history as the youngest Feature Race winner in F3 history.

Browning suffered another overtake on the final lap from Goethe, who took P4, while Tsolov took P6 ahead of Alexander Dunne and home favourite Mari Boya taking P8. Dino Beganovic took P9, whilst Noel Leon of Van Amersfoort Racing took the final points position of P10.

Penalties:

• Sztuka – 10 second time penalty (causing a collision with Bedrin)
• Boya – 10 second time penalty (track limits 5 times)

FORMULA 2

Sprint Race:

Victor Martins took his first victory of the 2024 season, with a comfortable win in the Sprint Race in Barcelona. The ART Grand Prix driver took the lead at lights out and drove into the distance for the win.

Pole-sitter Kush Maini suffered an unfortunate wheelspin off the line and dropped to fourth, whilst Martins capitalised on the Invicta Racing driver’s mistake to take the lead going into the first corner. Ritomo Miyata completed a sweeping overtake around the outside of the track at Turn 1 to go from fourth to second, ahead of Correa and Maini.

On Lap 2, Maini was in recovery mode, and a late dive down the inside of Correa at the opening corner meant he was able to take back one position. Teammate Gabriel Bortoleto followed him into Turn 4, and managed to go round the outside of the DAMS driver to take fourth place.

At the Lap 10, Martins had been able to put a gap of 1.5 seconds over Miyata to escape DRS range, while the Japanese driver held a 1.1 second advantage over Maini to keep P2.

Track limits became a problem with 10 laps to go for Miyata, with the Rodin driver being handed a five-second time penalty by the stewards. With five laps remaining Miyata picked up his second time penalty of the race after struggling to remain ahead of Kush Maini to bring his total time-penalty to 10-seconds.

The penultimate lap saw a major lock-up going into Turn 5 for Bortoleto in his efforts to keep Correa behind him. However, this gave the American driver an opening going into Turn 10 to dive up the inside, allowing him to claim P4.

Bortoleto conceded further places to both Aron, who overtook him at Turn 3 on the final lap to take P5, and two corners later Crawford managed to pass to take sixth from him.

Martins remained untroubled up-front to take his first F2 victory this season, and his first since Silverstone in 2023. Maini was promoted to second and Correa to third as a result of Miyata’s time penalty.

Paul Aron took fourth ahead of Crawford, Bortoleto, Hadjar and Miyata who took P8 after his 10-seconds of time penalties were applied to his final race time, although he did manage to take the point for fastest lap to add to his tally.

Penalties:

• Correa – 5 second time penalty (track limits 4 times)
• Antonelli – 5 second time penalty (track limits 4 times)
• Stanek – 10 second time penalty (track limits 5 times)
• Villagomez – 5 second time penalty (track limits 4 times)
• Colapinto – 10 second time penalty (track limits 5 times)
• Hauger – 10 second time penalty (track limits 5 times)
• Maloney – 15 second time penalty (track limits 6 times)
• Miyata – 10 second time penalty (track limits 5 times)

Feature Race:

Jak Crawford became the 10th different winner of the 2024 season after claiming his second FIA Formula 2 victory. The DAMS Lucas Oil had the best strategy on the day and distanced himself from the rest of the pack for his Barcelona Feature victory.

Paul Aron got the perfect launch from pole position into Turn 1 ahead of Crawford and Colapinto. Further back along the grid, Dennis Hauger lost control after running over the kerbs and made contact with Sprint Race winner Victor Martins, sending both of them spinning into the gravel at Turn 2 and consequently ending both driver’s races prematurely.

Isack Hadjar proved to be the biggest winner, having moved from 11th to fifth in the opening half of the first lap, however, the Safety Car was shortly deployed as recovery was undertook for Hauger and Martins’ cars, with both drivers being OK but the cars unable to be freed from the gravel trap on their own free will.

Lap 4 saw the resume of racing, and Aron had a perfect restart, moving over a second clear to escape DRS range from Crawford.

On Lap 8, tyre strategies began to come into play, with many of the drivers who opted to start on soft tyres beginning to drop off the pace, with the white-walled hard tyres finally coming into temperature. Crawford pitted from second place at the end of the lap, followed by Miyata and O’Sullivan pitting from inside the top 10 to change to the Hard tyres.

Rodin Motorsport’s Zane Maloney and Enzo Fittipaldi were the next two drivers to pit on Lap 9, however a slow release from Fittipaldi allowed the Rodin Motorsport’s driver to beat him to the exit of the pitlane.

Lap 13 saw another Virtual Safety Car released as a result of Taylor Barnard’s AIX Racing car being stationary at the pitlane entry. This meant that the pit-lane entry was closed so none of the other drivers could pit, although it is important to note that pitting isn’t allowed under Virtual Safety Car conditions. Racing resumed on the start of Lap14, as a result of Barnard’s stricken car being cleared from the track.

Aron looked to complete an overtake on Crawford after closing within half a second, however at the final corner on Lap 16, a snap of oversteer meant he slid of the road and any advantage way lost. Rejoining the track, he was now in 11th place, after losing 3 places to Bortoleto, Colapinto and O’Sullivan.

The second AIX Racing car of Joshua Duerksen ironically called out the second Virtual Safety Car of the race despite leading and having yet to pit on the alternative strategy. Lap 18 saw Duerksen slow to a stop in the middle sector of the track, handing the lead over to Juan Manuel Correa, who was also yet to pit on the Hard Pirellis.

With 10 laps remaining, Correa finally pitted from the race lead, exchanging his well-worn Hard compounds for the spritely but short-lasting Softs, hoping to take them to the end of the race. He filtered back out onto the track in P9.

Amaury Cordeel pitted late on in the race for his mandatory pit-stop, allowing Crawford to retake the lead, with his closest rival Colapinto 3.6 seconds behind. On his set of Soft tyres, Correa’s fast paced DAMS Lucas Oil seemed a rocket-ship on track, overtaking Maloney at Turn 5 for seventh, before shortly converting it to sixth as a result of Andrea Kimi Antonelli having to make his mandatory stop. By Lap 33, he had utilised a combination of fast Soft Tyres and DRS boost to climb into the podium places, passing Hadjar for fifth, Bortoleto for fourth and Aron for third.

Invicta Racing team-mates were nose-to-tail heading into the final lap of the race, however with the manner in which they were racing, contact was inevitable and a collision into the first corner left Bortoleto with front wing damage and Maini able to continue mostly undamaged in sixth.

Crawford eventually welcomed the chequered flag, taking his second Formula 2 race victory, ahead of Colapinto and Correa rounding out the podium in second and third respectively. Aron retained his Championship lead over Hadjar, with the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver finishing fourth and the Campos Racing driver finishing fifth. Maini took sixth with Bortoleto crossing the line in seventh, with Maloney, Cordeel and home favourite Josep Maria Marti rounding out the points in 10th.

Penalties:

• Bortoleto – 5 second time penalty (causing a collision with Maini)
• Fittipaldi – 5 second time penalty (track limits 4 times)
• O’Sullivan – 10 second time penalty (track limits 5 times)

FORMULA 1

Max Verstappen takes his seventh win of the season after holding off the challenge of pole-sitter Lando Norris at the Spanish Grand Prix.

The reigning World Champion took the lead of the race on Lap 3, after a sweeping overtake into Turn 1 saw Mercedes driver George Russell soar from fourth to first in the opening lap.

Drama at the start of the race saw Lando Norris drift to the side in an attempt to defend against a charging Max Verstappen, forcing the Red Bull driver slightly onto the grass, with his protests being heard on team radio. However, stewards after initially viewing the moment, determined that no further action needed to be taken.

McLaren’s Norris would spend the early stages of the race stuck behind George Russell, with the time lost on these laps proving critical to his performance, and costing him time in his eventual fight for the lead.

When it was eventually time for pit-stops the lead changed hands numerous times, however, Verstappen would continue his dominant control of the race and maintain the lead as the race drew nearer to a close, with the Dutchman having reserved a new set of Soft tyres for the final stint of the Grand Prix.

Verstappen would prove to have some struggles towards the end of the race as he was hindered by a second pit stop being a slow 3.6-seconds, which is not normally the case for the Red Bull pit crew. Although this blunder would prove to be nothing more than a delay to the inevitable, as Max Verstappen crossed the line to win his seventh victory of the season a mere 2.2 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris, who took P2. Norris seemed despondent during celebrations, citing his disappointment at mistakes he made in the race ultimately costing him the win.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton managed to secure his first Grand Prix podium of the season, making it 18 consecutive seasons with a podium, having had contact with Carlos Sainz earlier on in the race – although stewards reviewed the incident and deemed no further action was necessary. Whilst his team-mate George Russell finished P4, airing complaints on the team radio that his hard tyre “did not feel good” on his last stint.

The Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz came home in P5 and P6 respectively, however not without their fair share of drama. On Lap 3, Sainz tried to make a move on Leclerc at Turn 1, however there appeared to be contact made between the two, with the Spaniard forced to use the escape road. He eventually managed to overtake Leclerc’s Ferrari, meanwhile the stewards looked to see if he had left the track and gained an advantage – with no further investigation necessary.

Sergio Perez completed a late overtake on Gasly to take eighth after starting 11th as a result of a three-place grid penalty awarded during the last race in Canada.

Pierre Gasly was the best of the Alpine’s with a ninth-place finish, after a less than ideal 6.7 second pit-stop due to a sticky right rear tyre, meant much of the work he had put in at the beginning of the race was ruined. Team-mate Esteban Ocon made it a double-points finish for Alpine, rounding out the top 10.

Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg took 11th after receiving a five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane, with Spanish Driver Fernando Alonso taking P12 on a difficult weekend for Aston Martin.

13th place was awarded to the Kick Sauber of Zhou Guanyu, ahead of Aston Martin’s second car of Lance Stroll, whilst Daniel Riccardo took P15, after a difficult weekend despite introducing a major new update to the RB.

Bottas, Magnussen and Alex Albon finished 16th, 17th and 18th respectively – Magnussen receiving a 5 second time penalty for a false start, with the RB of Yuki Tsunoda also suffering despite the new updates, finishing 19th. The Williams of Logan Sargeant was the last car to cross the line in 20th place, in a race that saw no yellow flags or retirements.